Juno Award-winning cellist coming to High River

A Juno Award-winning cellist is coming to High River this Friday, April 26.

The High River Gift of Music Society is bringing cellist Elinor Frey along with the ensemble of Rosa Barocca to perform some songs from her Juno Award-winning album.

You will be treated to ensemble highlights of early cello concerts from the Baroque period.

The Gift of Music website states: 

Elinor is the artistic director of Accademia de’ Dissonanti, an organization for performance and research. She has appeared throughout the Americas and in Europe in recitals and with numerous chamber ensembles and orchestras, including Rosa Barocca, Constantinople, Les idées heureuses, Il Gardellino, Tafelmusik, and the Pacific Baroque Orchestra.). In March 2023, Elinor performed Boccherini and Sammartini concertos with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra.

Elinor holds degrees from McGill, Mannes, and Juilliard, and is the recipient of dozens of grants and prizes supporting performance and research, including the US-Italy Fulbright Fellowship studying with Paolo Beschi in Como, Italy, and a recent research residency at the Orpheus Institute in Ghent.  She teaches Baroque cello and performance practice at McGill University and the Université de Montréal and is a Visiting Fellow in Music (2020–2023) at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University. In 2021, Frey was awarded Québec’s Opus Prize for “Performer of the Year.”

Rosa Barocca is a made-in-Alberta ensemble that will be backing Frey's performance.

According to the website, their "mission is to present Alberta audiences with historically informed performances of Baroque music. They use period instruments to capture the spirit, stylistic approach, and distinctive sound of that glorious musical era. Comprised of musicians from across Canada, the newly minted ensemble debuted in November 2016 with two greatly acclaimed performances of Purcell’s “Hail! Bright Cecilia” in Calgary and Red Deer under their Artistic Director Claude Lapalme."

Rosa Barocca’s recent album, featuring internationally acclaimed cellist Elinor Frey, was nominated for a Juno Award in the category of Best Classical Album of the Year – Small Ensemble.

The show starts at 7:30 p.m. this Friday, April 26 at the High River United Church which is where the performance will be held.